What Really Happened When AI Joined the Boardroom: Lessons from Giesswein

AI in Executive Meetings: The Giesswein Case That Surprised Everyone

Alright, here’s a tale straight from the intersection of old-school business and futuristic tech—and trust me, it’s way more interesting than it sounds on paper.

So, picture this: a 70-year-old, eco-conscious Austrian shoe company named Giesswein—traditional to its core—decides to spice things up by pulling up a virtual chair for AI at their board meetings. Yep, real-deal executive-level stuff. Not some small startup with hipster founders and beanbags. We’re talking legacy, suits, and leather chairs... with a sprinkle of machine intelligence.

Their mission? Shake up the groupthink. You know how when you work with the same people for years, you basically start finishing each other’s sentences? That’s what Giesswein’s execs realized—they were too in sync. They needed an outside voice. But instead of a new hire, they brought in ChatGPT-4.

Let’s break down what happened—and why it’s a serious wake-up call for anyone using AI in business today.

Phase One: Speed, Savings, and Sweet New Ideas

The early wins were predictable—but still impressive. AI made it easier for Giesswein’s execs to make decisions faster and cheaper. Instead of waiting on full-blown research reports or hiring external consultants to whip up a press release, they just asked ChatGPT.

Quick example: they needed to announce a decision. Normally, you'd pay a PR firm to finesse the wording. Instead, the AI whipped up a well-polished statement on the spot. Not Pulitzer-winning prose, but definitely “good enough to ship.” This speed was golden, especially in a world where dragging out decisions costs real money.

And that was before the rise of tools like Deep Research, which lets AI do full-on web-based research in minutes. The future? We're already living in it.

Phase Two: Productive Disruption

Here’s where it gets juicy. Surprisingly, one of AI’s biggest strengths wasn’t just making things faster—it was actually slowing things down.

I know, weird flex, but hear me out.

The AI didn’t just follow the flow of the meeting. It interrupted it. It asked weird questions. It offered ideas that didn’t fit the pattern. It was like the one person in the meeting who doesn’t care about stepping on toes and just blurts out, “But what if we’re completely wrong?”

And the execs? They loved it.

Why? Because AI forced them out of their mental comfort zone. It disrupted their rhythm in a good way, snapping them out of years of habitual thinking. Instead of just coasting on autopilot, they had to pause and really consider new perspectives.

It was like having a wildcard in the room—annoying at first, but ultimately helpful.

Phase Three: The Illusion of Completeness

Here’s where the warm fuzzy story turns into a cautionary tale.

After months of working with AI, something unsettling began to creep in. The managers started leaning a little too hard on the AI. Not because it demanded power, but because it was just... so easy. Too easy.

In one case, they asked the AI for a list of things to consider before making a public statement. The list it gave was solid—but it missed one critical point: legal implications. And none of the managers caught it. Why? Because they trusted the AI to have covered all the bases.

That’s what the researchers dubbed the illusion of completeness. It’s not about the AI lying. It’s about us forgetting to question it. When the machine says, “Here’s what you need to know,” we stop asking, “What did it miss?”

That’s way scarier than hallucinated facts.

The Big Takeaway: Use AI—But Stay Human

The researchers wrapped up with one clear conclusion: AI can absolutely enhance leadership decision-making—but only if humans stay fully engaged. Passive reliance is a trap.

AI is like Excel: powerful, efficient, and easy to mess up if you don’t know what you’re doing. Just like you wouldn’t make a million-dollar decision based on a spreadsheet someone else built without checking the formulas, you shouldn’t trust AI without using your own judgment.

What’s the best way to avoid the illusion trap? Cross-reference outputs with different AI tools. Better yet, use AI to spark ideas, not finalize them.

Looking Ahead: The Rise of Superintelligence

This part hit me the hardest. The researchers raised a pretty wild—but not unrealistic—thought: if AI eventually becomes superintelligent, with abilities far beyond human teams, we might stop questioning it entirely.

When that happens, we’re not in “illusion” territory anymore. We’re in “truth by default” land. Even then, though, superintelligence will still carry the biases of its creators. And the more we trust it blindly, the harder it’ll be to push back if it subtly nudges our worldviews.

It’s deep stuff. And it’s not some sci-fi future—it’s the path we’re already walking.

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I’ll admit it—I went into this story expecting a sleek tale about replacing execs with AI. But what I found was way more real, and frankly, more useful.

Giesswein didn’t hand over the reins to a robot overlord. They simply added an AI voice to the table. And from that, we got three clear truths: AI can save time and money, challenge assumptions, and—if we’re not careful—lull us into dangerous mental shortcuts.

Use AI. Absolutely. But keep your brain turned on. Stay sharp. And remember, when the AI gets it wrong, it’s you who’ll have to explain the consequences.

Stay sharp and think twice before following the bot—get more tech truths at Land of Geek Magazine!

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